Lion of London Bridge – Roy Larner Took on Jihadists to Save Others

One man, a Brit named Roy Larner, refused to take any garbage off of the three jihadists who entered the Black and Blue Restaurant at Borough Market the night of the London Bridge attack. They were wielding knives and shouting, “This is for allah” and “Islam, Islam, Islam.” Mr. Larner, 47, has earned the nickname The Lion of London Bridge for his courage at taking on the knife wielding men barehanded.

As soon as the three men started shouting, Mr. Larner advanced toward them saying, “F*** you, I’m Millwall.” At that point he waded into the three terrorists and fought them with no protection. It gave the rest of the patrons time to get out of the restaurant.

“Like an idiot I shouted back at them. I thought, ‘I need to take the p*** out of these b******s. I took a few steps towards them and said, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall,’ So they started attacking me.” Roy Larner to the Daily Mail

But Mr. Larner paid for his courage- he was viciously stabbed 8 times. After the jihadists left, he was transported to St. Thomas Hospital in Central London, where he underwent surgery.

“I’m a bit better. I’ve had surgery. They reckon I might have to be in here a week. I just did what I had to do.” Roy Larner to the Daily Mail

Millwall is the name of the “football”- Soccer- team Roy supports. He is from Peckham in South London. One of his friends gave him a magazine that had the headline, “Learn to run”- he says it was a Londoner’s sense of humor.

The jihadists

Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba were the attackers shot dead by London police after the incident. They had already killed 7 and wounded dozens of others. Butt was said to have been the leader of the trio, and was known to authorities from posing with an ISIS flag in a documentary film called “The Jihadist Next Door.” A terrorism investigation had been ongoing, even as the attack on the London Bridge occurred. He was connected to the banned al-Muhajiroun group.

Redouane was a Moroccan pastry chef who had been living in Dublin. Zaghba was a Moroccan who had been arrested by Italian authorities on his way to Syria, but as the Telegraph put it, “somehow managed to find his way into Britain.”

Authorities say that Mr. Larner, in confronting the suspects, gave other patrons of the restaurant time to escape. Khuram Butt was a well trained kick boxer. Larner’s courage was immense to take on all three of them.

A change.org petition has been started to ask Bermondsey Simon Hughes, a candidate for Parliament, to nominate Mr. Larner for the prestigious George Cross. That award is the highest civilian honor for showing great courage in the face of adversity in Britain.

“Roy Larner charged at the terrorists on London Bridge in order to try and stop them and help others escape, he ended up getting himself stabbed multiple times showing great courage and preparing his body for the ultimate self-sacrifice to help others, he should be acknowledged and rewarded for his actions.” Webber Brown, creator of the petition